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SEO as a service is built on the foundation that the effort put in now can still have an effect years down the road.

So by default, the goal of SEO should be to grow for the long haul. Unlike online advertising, in which traffic stops as soon as you stop a campaign, SEO is capable of producing ROI unlike any other form of marketing.

Unfortunately, many automotive SEO companies don’t prescribe to that mindset. Instead, they look to find ways to cut corners and take the easy way out.

If you want to future proof your business’s SEO, and avoid short-term solutions, here’s how you can get started.

Create More Evergreen Content

Very few businesses get content right the first time. Most just create content to promote sales or to showcase individual customer experience.

There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, but that type of content does have an expiration date and not much value to online visitors or search engines.

This is where evergreen content comes in to save the day. Evergreen content is always relevant. It’s the type of content that your website’s visitors will find useful years down the road.

If you run a gym, your site could write a blog post or a standalone page called “10 Workout Tips Every Beginner Should Know.” That type of content will always be relevant to people looking to start working out.

Why is this important?

When your content goals are aligned with SEO, you want to get the most out of every single piece of content you publish to your site. But if your content expires quickly, that’s just not possible.

You want content that has the potential to bring in organic traffic every single day for the foreseeable future. And by targeting keywords relevant to your business, you’re building up more and more authority for your site as a whole.

The effect of this content will be seen not just in the rankings of the evergreen pages you create, but the rankings that bring in new customers as well.

Don’t Fudge the Facts

In early March, the New Scientist reported that Google researchers published a research paper theorizing a new way to rank pages.

The idea is to stop relying on links and other external factors and rank pages based on trustworthiness. Meaning, if you’re giving your users verified information and facts, Google will reward you. But if you’re spreading lies, don’t expect to see much organic traffic.

While every site’s goal should be to present its visitors with correct, genuine information, we all know plenty of websites fudge the facts when it’s in their best interest.

To keep your site safe for the future, give your visitors the most up-to-date and verified information that you can find on your subject matter.

Take Your Reputation Seriously

So we know Google is looking into the trustworthiness of websites as a future ranking factor, but what about its reputation?

It already uses reputation as a minor ranking factor in its local results, and even looks for user reviews as a part of its organic ranking algorithm.

The reason for this is, back in 2010 The New York Times wrote about a business that was using negative sentiment to build links and achieve higher rankings on Google.

After this incident, Google decided it needed to counter this specific type of manipulation and updated its algorithm accordingly.

This should serve as a wake-up call for businesses with spotty reputations or bad customer service!

Don’t Invest in Shortcuts

Shortcuts can be gifts or curses, depending on the situation.

If you’re on a road trip, finding shortcuts to your destination can save you time, money, and stress. In your work, however, shortcuts often cut corners and that can affect the overall quality of your product or service.

That’s especially true in SEO. Oftentimes, companies look for the easy way to get links, such as paying for them, or outsourcing content for pennies.

But when you take the easy way out with SEO, you take a big risk. In recent years, Google has released updates to its algorithm that punish sites for taking shortcuts to improve rankings.

By punishing participants in link schemes or sites that copy others’ content for profit, Google made an example of those who wanted to reap the benefits of top rankings without putting in the real work to achieve them based on merit.